


To Absent Friends

by HecatesKiss



Series: Earthbound Pleasures [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, M/M, Pre-Slash, Tarsus IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 13:11:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2509037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HecatesKiss/pseuds/HecatesKiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim goes to his usual bar and orders a very particular meal. One he only partakes in once a year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Absent Friends

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Star Trek. I am merely playing in the Universe. I will return the characters when I am done, relatively undamaged.  
> ~*~  
> No part of this story may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author.~ dated 27-08-2014. 
> 
> Guys? I have no problem with download for PERSONAL use, aka a private copy for your e-reader. Zero problema! 
> 
> No, what really makes me see red and want to exterminate something or someone is when my stuff shows up outside of Ao3.

Jim stepped into the bar, fingers trailing over the cuffs of his brown leather jacket. He let his gaze skim over the bar, taking in the mixed company of humans, Andorans, Tellerites and other various Federation Citizens. He payed attention to the tables, looking for a specific set up. When he didn’t see one already set up he walked to the bar.

“What can I get for you?” The bartender, a rather pretty Andoran woman, asked, smile easy.

“A pitcher of water, a bottle of Tarsian i’gava brandy, a meat, bread and cheese plate, and a box of Andoran Chocolate, please.” Jim flashed a quick smile and the bartender punched in his order. He punched in his credit code and paid for it.

“You are the second person in here with that order tonight.” The woman commented. Jim paused and scanned the room again.

“Oh really?”

“Yep. He came in at lunch and drank alone. The combo is odd enough to catch in my memory. Will you also want three shot glasses and three water glasses?” The tender asked with a small smile. Jim nodded and then wandered back towards a table. He settled in with his back to the wall.

The waitress ran out his order and set the cold meat, cheese and french bread plate down next to the pitcher and the chocolates. The bartender brought out the brandy and the glasses. Jim cracked open the bottle and poured out two glasses of the water and the brandy. He also fixed two plates, setting one set off to the side.

A shadow fell over his table and Jim looked up. Lt. Commander Spock stood next to his table dressed in simple black slacks and a black tunic that was not StarFleet issue.

“I don’t mean to intrude…”

“You aren’t. Go ahead, take a seat.”

“Thank you. This seems almost ritual?” An eyebrow lifted slightly as the Vulcan took the seat across from Jim, putting his back to the door.

“This wasn’t one of the sixteen?”

“No.”

“Would you like me to explain it?”

“If you wish…”

Jim easily poured a glass of water and a shot of brandy. He skipped over the meat and prepared a plate of cheese, bread, and chocolate for the vulcan and slid it across the table. 

“When we were first rescued, they gave us very small portions of bread, cold meats, and cheeses. The chocolate was a treat. It’s become traditional to have this meal on the Anniversary.” Jim smiled slightly and picked up one of the chocolates.

“The brandy seems incongruous with the rest of the meal.”

“Not really. At first it was water and i’gava juice. Since the juice would be familiar to us. It’s Tarusus VII’s top export alongside the brandy. As we got older… we upgraded to the brandy. None of us will touch i’gava outside of this date. It kept us alive. But none of us can really _stand_ the taste of the stuff.” Jim said as he picked up his shot of brandy. Spock mirrored him.

“To absent friends.” Jim lifted his glass in a toast. Spock arched a brow as the cadet threw back the entire shot and set the shot glass gently down. The other man did drink though, in slow sips.

“There is a Terran Author who is attributed to the full quote…” Spock trailed off and blinked. Jim smiled and poured himself another round of the sparkling blue liquid. He offered the bottle towards the Vulcan who declined with a slight lift of his hand.

“I know. I offered it the first time we were onboard the _Carter_. We did too.”

“Did what?”

“The full quote is ‘to absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due.’ We gave Kodos that. He forged us into survivors. We made his life as hellish as we were able.” Jim tossed back his drink and again gently set the shot glass down. He nibbled at a bit of the meat and cheese before he sipped at the water. The familiar fuzzy feeling was already apparent, even with just one shot.

“You were explaining?”

“Right. Sorry. The water on Tarsus IV was polluted by the fungus. It wasn’t safe to drink. We existed on rain water while on the planet surface. We knew _that_ was clean. It took the Carter’s crew nearly three weeks in space before any one of us would even touch the water they offered us. Don’t drink the water had been life saving advice, delivered too late for some.” Jim glanced over at the full place setting and then away again.

“So now you sit with a full pitcher of clean water. Why the third setting, if I may?”

“To honor those that didn’t make it out. We lost so many brothers and sisters down there. So much to blood and famine. We saw and did things… things that you would find illogical, but when the choice is yield or die…”

“Terrans are biologically driven, as is any species, to survive. It is only logical to make the best choice in the worst situation. You survived. You made certain others survived. This ritual…”

“Is what it is. It keeps me and the rest of us, connected to the past. We don’t forget. But we wish we didn’t remember.” Jim muttered as he took another shot of the alcohol and then bit into the chocolate, letting the bitter flavour roll over his tongue, mixing with the sweet spicy honey flavour of the brandy.

“It would be logical to avoid massive consumption of this brandy, which, while not stronger than Romulan Ale, is often seen as highly intoxicating to Terrans.” Spock returned as he bit carefully into the chocolate on his plate.

“True. But I only do this once a year. And I’ve got hypos back at my place to sober me up if I really do over-do.” Jim said, downing another shot of the brandy. Jim eyed the bottle for a moment and shrugged. He was only down a third and the Vulcan had only one shot.

“With as much as I have seen you consume… perhaps more of the food would be wise?”

“It’s an idea. I remember when we were offered this spread for the first time. None of my group would touch it. We just looked at it. I think we confused the docs. Food, right there, on the table, open and for the taking. And we just stared."

"Why didn't you eat?"

"It had been done before. I wanted the price before I let my brothers touch it. Took them three days to figure it out. There was one doc that got it. She told me that the price was we talked to her. _That_ , I could pay. I ate. Nothing happened. We finally believed we had survived when we saw the space station."

"You have a brother according to Starfleet records. George."

"Kev and Tommy _are_ family. Brothers in all but blood. The kind that all you need is a subspace trans and you will drop everything to be there. That is family. Does that make sense to you?"

Spock took a small bite of the chocolate he held. "My mother, I believe, would understand. My father... I am uncertain. Family does not always lend to logic."

Jim sipped from his current shot of brandy and nodded. "Family is what you fight to protect. What you will do anything for. Kev and Tommy are that for me. I did anything to see that they survived." Jim downed another two shots as fast as he could pour them and then drained his glass of water as he watched the Vulcan savor another chocolate. Jim smiled as a small bit from one of his xenobio courses trickled through his head.

"So. I think chocolate in you is like brandy in me. What say we take the intoxicants back to my place? That way its just us and we won't get mugged?" Jim offered with a grin as he grabbed the half full bottle with a too careful hand.

“That might be prudent.” Spock said rising to his feet and frowning for a moment.

“Grab the chocolates.”


End file.
